


Nott's first birthday

by Mothfluff



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), The Mighty Nein - Fandom
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Fluff, Nott deserves all the happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-28 13:44:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13905255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mothfluff/pseuds/Mothfluff
Summary: Nott has a birthday now, but she's not sure whether that really matters. Her new friends make damn sure it does.





	Nott's first birthday

It was a fairly normal evening – as normal as could be for this ragtag group of travellers, at least. Molly, Fjord and Beau were still downstairs, drinking and chatting (and squabbling and fighting, in Molly and Beau's case). Jester had dissappeared to who knew where. Caleb, poor tired Caleb, had slumped back to his room the instant they arrived at the inn and hadn't moved from the bed he'd fallen down on for at least two hours.

Nott was in the same room, crosslegged on her bed – it felt strange to have her own bed, a giant, human-sized one even, instead of huddling down at Caleb's feet next to Frumpkin. But they had the gold for it now, and Caleb had insisted, like he had with the weird bath place, and she wouldn't ever say no to Caleb when he smiled at her like that, like he was offering her something wonderful even if she didn't understand what was supposed to be so great about it.

Besides, having a bed to herself was not the strangest feeling at the moment. It was not a fairly normal evening for her anymore, after all.

It was her birthday now.

 

She didn't really know much about birthdays, goblin-wise. But she knew about birthdays concerning humans, and she knew they were kind of a big thing. There was a little celebration involved, most of the time, and even gifts. Some nice food. Some drink. People congratulating you for – what, exactly? Surviving another year? Probably.

She wasn't sure about tieflings or half-orcs or any other race, really, but she knew that was how humans treated their birthdays.

But was that how goblin-birthdays could work too?

Could she have all that now?

 

Her hands pulled at the bedsheet underneath her, lost in thought. No, that was probably wrong. That didn't sound very goblin-like, having a party and sharing food and getting free things from others.

But she wasn't really goblin-like, either, most of the time. So maybe?

 

Besides, it was just a random thing. Caleb had tried to be nice to her, like he always was, picking the date at random to make her feel better. Today was not special in any way, not to anyone.

Maybe to her. But did that matter?

 

Caleb moved with a quiet grunt and Nott's ears twitched. His eyes were still closed, but his face was scrunching up, his forehead in deep wrinkles, and she knew that meant he was slowly waking up.

„Hey. Hey Caleb.“ She got up from her bed and tiptoed over to his side as he groaned again to let her know he'd heard her.

„How do goblin birthdays work? Is it like human ones?“

A split second of quiet, then his eyes flashed open. She'd never seen him so awake so quickly.

„Well, that depends.“ He rose slowly, and his voice was just as slow – almost careful, it seemed. „On what you want, really. It's _your_ birthday. What do you want your birthday to be like?“

„I don't know.“ She shrugged. „I've never seen a goblin have a birthday. Can it be like human ones? With gifts and food and some drink?“

„Absolutely.“ He was sitting up now, and smiling at her again, like _that._ Like she liked. „If that's what you want, we can do that.“

She shrugged again, tugging at the ends of her tunic. „I don't know. It's not gotta be a big thing. It's okay if-“

 

A loud, rapid, constant knocking sound interrupted them. Caleb groaned yet again, got up and meandered over to the door, all while the knocking continued – it only stopped when the door opened and revealed a smiling blue tiefling, hand still in the air.

„Ayyy, you're awake! Good!“ Jester grinned at him before turning her attention to Nott. „We need you downstairs! Well, both of you.“

„Has something happened?“ Caleb looked down at Nott, who'd joined his side. 

„Yes! Something happened, and Molly said we need your help. Right now. So, come on!“

Jester was already skipping down the hallway while Caleb and Nott exchanged a confused look. Whatever had happened couldn't have been that bad, if she was still happily running around and whistling – but Molly sending her up for them was strange enough to follow her without further questions.

 

* * *

 

Nott hopped down the stairs in front of Caleb – not that she was sure of what was going on, but sure enough that she had to be careful not to let him get hurt yet again if whatever they'd face downstairs was worse than expected.

What she absolutely didn't expect, turning the corner, was the loud „SURPRISE!“ ringing in her ears.

 

She stopped in her tracks even as Caleb absent-mindedly bumped into her back. In front of her, sitting around the table, were her new group of travellers looking at her with smiles – Jester, still standing, between them, arms raised up high and with the biggest smile of them all on her face. 

The small table was filled with different plates of food – a ham, a bowl of potatoes, bacon, more meat, a saucer of gravy, other things she couldn't make out yet – and in the middle, a large plate of pastries, some of them with a small candle stuck on top. Nine, she counted, before her eyes switched to the few small satchels hidden around the plates.

„Happy birthday!“ Jester shouted, again. 

„...This is for me?“  
„Yeah! Well, we're probably gonna share the food, if that's alright with you.“ 

 

And they did. Jester had shuffled her into a seat amidst all of them, Caleb at her side, and now everyone was eating, chatting, laughing. Caleb kept filling her plate every time she snarfed it empty, same with her tankard, but her eyes returned again and again to the small satchels she kept spotting on the table. Her hands twitched.

„It's alright.“ Jester's voice was quiet, right into her ear. „They're all yours to snatch up, you know. That's why we hid them out in the open.“

Nott stared at her before waiting for an unnoticed moment to carefully, stealthily pick up the satchel closest to her.

Then she noticed all eyes on her.

„I'm sorry, it's, the, I got the itch again, I-“ She turned to Caleb, only to see him smile like that again.

„It's okay this time, I think.“ 

Fjord nodded beside him. „They're your gifts, after all.“

 

It was much later in the night when she spread out her new hoard on her bed, after everyone had wished her a good night. A bag of beef jerky for the road, from Beau. A small ring with a green stone in it, from Jester. A bottle of whiskey, from Molly. A packet of crossbow bolts, from Fjord.

She stared at it all – she didn't even have to steal the rest of the satchels, they'd handed them to her. It was a strange feeling. A very strange feeling. It was wonderful.

„I'm sorry.“ Caleb's voice from the other bed drew her attention. „For not getting you a gift myself. I will tomorrow, I promise. It'll be late, but-“

„No!“ She grinned at him, pointy teeth and bright eyes. „You gave me the best gift of all of them, Caleb!“

He seemed confused. „What did I get you?“

„My birthday!“

 


End file.
